The Woodland Packs Read online

  The Woodlands Pack Series

  Books 1 - 3

  By Amelia Shaw

  CONTENTS

  The Woodlands Pack Series

  Pack's Mate Cover

  The Pack’s Mate

  Chapter 1.

  Chapter 2.

  Chapter 3.

  Chapter 4.

  Chapter 5.

  Chapter 6.

  Chapter 7.

  Chapter 8.

  Chapter 9.

  Chapter 10.

  Chapter 11.

  Chapter 12.

  Chapter 13.

  Epilogue:

  Claiming their Mate Cover

  Claiming their Mate

  Prologue.

  Chapter 1.

  Chapter 2.

  Chapter 3.

  Chapter 4.

  Chapter 5.

  Chapter 6.

  Chapter 8.

  Chapter 9.

  Chapter 10.

  Chapter 11.

  Chapter 12.

  Chapter 13.

  Chapter 14.

  Chapter 15.

  Epilogue:

  Saving the Pack Cover

  Saving Their Mate

  Chapter 1.

  Chapter 2.

  Chapter 3.

  Chapter 4.

  Chapter 5.

  Chapter 6.

  Chapter 7.

  Chapter 8.

  Chapter 9.

  Chapter 10.

  Chapter 11.

  Chapter 12.

  Chapter 13.

  Chapter 14.

  Chapter 15.

  Chapter 16.

  Epilogue.

  Thank you

  The Pack’s Mate

  By Amelia Shaw

  The Woodland Packs: Book 1

  Chapter 1.

  Dexter.

  My pack community grounds looked nothing like they did when I was a child. The once soft grass was gone, worn down to dirt. The area, central to our town, was littered with beer bottles and cigarette butts, the playground equipment long since hauled off into the woods.

  The sun was only just rising, but we were all up, ready to start a long day’s work. The heavy scent of testosterone filled in the air. My all-male pack, consisting of Taylor and Jay, bonded with the men with whom we grew up. They’d all been placed into small all-male families of their own now.

  A sigh ripped through my throat as I glanced at the rock-strewn dirt at my feet. The pack before me was a powerful, depressing sight I’d grown tired of. For a whole generation now, the Woodlands pack had not born a single female.

  Not one.

  For almost sixty years, the elders of my pack have questioned what happened to our breed. And what would happen to our genetic lines if there were no female mates to carry our children for future generations.

  My mother and her sisters were some of the last pack-born women and each had produced at least three sons each.

  What went wrong? No one knows.

  What we do know is that there will be no more children born to our purebred wolf-shifting women.

  It’s impossible now. The last of our fertile females matured past breeding age almost twenty years ago, so there’s no longer any hope of a saviour being born for our pack.

  Something must be done. If we don’t find women to breed with soon, our pack will become extinct.

  There was obviously only one option. To bring human women into the pack.

  We needed to venture into the cities and acquire human females for breeding.

  But no one knows if that will actually work, as it’s never been attempted before.

  We have something called a Fated mate in our world. Wolf shifters in my pack only breed with their true mate, the one chosen for them by Fate.

  I was told that I would recognise my mate by her scent. There would be an instant attraction, an undeniable bond from the moment we touch. I won’t actually know, as I’ve never experienced it before. No one my age has.

  We must rely on the stories our parents tell us, which seem to change with time, like fairy tales.

  So, what should we believe? It’s tough to discern between fact and fiction that has grown over the years. And if there were no wolf-born women, would that bond still exist outside of the community?

  Probably not.

  We were in uncharted territory and no one in the pack knew, not even the elders. And everyone was afraid of what would become of us if the bond failed.

  “Dex! Come quickly. It’s your dad.” Taylor, my Beta, came running at me at break-neck speed and grabbed my arm.

  My dad?

  “Where is he? What’s happened?”

  “Come on.” Taylor turned and ran towards my parents’ home. I followed behind, not thinking twice.

  My father had been feeling unwell for months, and as one of the elders in our pack, that was a bad omen for everyone.

  They’re meant to be the strongest of us.

  He can’t die. Not yet. Not until we’ve secured of the continuation of our bloodline.

  I’ll be lost without him.

  Taylor led me straight to my parents’ house and into the lounge, where my father was laying on the couch and my mother was on the floor, kneeling over him.

  His face was deathly pale and his breath wheezed in and out of his chest like it consumed all of his energy just to stay alive for the next moment.

  “What happened?” I asked as I crouched down next to my mother.

  Mom turned and squeezed my hand. “Please, Dexter, please. Take him to the hospital in Little Creek.”

  Little Creek was the nearest human town. “Mom, no. You know that’s not our way.”

  We have a healer in our pack, but he was rarely required for anything other than fighting injuries. Our paranormal genetics meant that we heal extremely fast and rarely fell ill, unless it was something extremely serious.

  My mom grabbed my shoulders with surprising force. “Dexter, I am not ready to lose him. Not yet. He can’t die. Take him to a doctor. Please.”

  I looked towards my father, who met my gaze with his own.

  He didn’t nod, but he didn’t shake his head no, either. And for the first time ever, I saw fear in my father’s eyes. He didn’t want to die.

  The decision was made for me. I had to take him in.

  “Taylor, grab Jay and the truck. Bring it ‘round the front. I’ll carry Dad out.”

  Taylor looked at me for a moment, as though questioning my logic. But in the end, he followed my instructions as any good Beta would.

  “Thank you, Dexter! Thank you,” my mother said, as she stood up and moved out of the way.

  I leaned down and lifted my father up over my shoulder, grunting with the effort. He’s a dead weight and he weighed more than me.

  And up until yesterday, he was still as strong as ever. Or so I’d thought.

  I arranged his arm over my shoulder and put my arms around his waist so that I could carry him out to the truck.

  “Let’s go, Dad.”

  I didn’t know if a human hospital could save him, but if there was a chance, then I had to try.

  I limped outside under the weight of my father’s bulk, his ragged breathing echoing in my ear. His skin was clammy beneath my palms.

  “Are you sure this is what you want, Dad?” I asked, as the vehicle pulled up.

  If my father didn’t want the humans to help him, then I wouldn’t force him.

  My father nodded, but just barely.

  Okay. I was doing the right thing.

  “Let’s go then, old man.”

  That got the briefest of smiles from my dad as I hefted him to the back seat of the full-sized truck.

  Taylor helped me get him situated, then I climbed into the driver’s seat. r />
  I adjusted the rear vision mirror so I could see my father’s ashen face.

  “Little River is an hour away, so don’t you dare die on us before I get you there, Dad.”

  I gave my words a threatening growl, and there was a weak laugh in the back seat from my dad.

  Jay slid onto the floor behind my seat, at my father’s feet, the perfect Omega. Lucky, we had trucks or he would never have fit.

  My pack was in and my father wasn’t getting any better just sitting here.

  “Let’s go.”

  I planted my foot on the accelerator and we took off towards the nearest town. I drove the roads as safely as possible, my heart thundering in my chest the closer we got to Little River.

  “Let’s hope the human stories have been exaggerated, huh?” Taylor joked, trying to ease some of the tension in the truck.

  The silence had become overwhelming.

  I managed to smile. “Yeah, I think as long as none of us go shifting in the middle of the city, we’ll be fine.”

  All of us of mating age ventured into the cities for clandestine sexual encounters with random strangers occasionally, but we never went anywhere near the heart of the city.

  Nor the hospitals or doctors when we were injured, in fear of the possibility of having our blood tested and finding a difference that they could not explain.

  We’d been told since we were kids how much humans hated us. That they feared anything different and we’d be locked up in a zoo, or dissected on a scientist’s table if they discovered what we were.

  Taylor grinned. “Yeah, I hope so.”

  We drove the rest of the hour in silence, broken only by the creepy rasp of my father’s breathing.

  Taylor pulled out his cell phone and directed me to the hospital using the maps feature.

  “Turn left here. And it should be on our right.”

  The hair on my arms stood on end as we passed through the human city. So much light, so many people. A thousand shops and cars. Noise everywhere. Too much of everything. Chaos and cacophony that we weren’t accustomed to.

  I pulled up outside the emergency department next to a hospital that stood a hundred feet tall.

  “I’ll take Dad in. Taylor, park the truck and meet me inside. Jay, help me if you can.”

  Jay nodded and slid out the door easily, his agile, lithe body making everything easier for him.

  I jumped out, opened the rear door and reached into the back seat for my father’s form. The wheezing was getting worse. He was really struggling to breathe now, and his lips were blue.

  I pulled my dad along the seat, hard. Adrenaline pumped through my bloodstream, making my muscles bulge and tingle with strength.

  My instincts were telling me that time was almost up.

  Jay got under my father’s other arm and we carried him towards the sliding doors.

  They whooshed open and two men rushed out.

  “Do you need help?” they asked, the foreign human scent rolling off their bodies making my hackles rise.

  I grabbed for my father’s huge bulk, a growl ripping through my throat as they attempted to take him from me.

  Taylor pushed at me. “Dexter, they want to help. Let him go.”

  Fighting back the red shifting haze was harder than I thought.

  I had to calm down, and fast.

  Focus on Dad. Why you’re here.

  I gulped at the air and forced my arms to unhook their death-like grip.

  “It’s my father. He can’t breathe… I think it’s his heart.”

  “We need a gurney out here!” one of the men yelled and another man in uniform came running up with a white bed on wheels.

  The man who’d called for the gurney touched my arm. “It’s okay. We’re going to take care of him.”

  I helped them put my dad on the bed and they wheeled him away quickly. His skin was grey and sweaty, his eyes were closed, and he didn’t seem to be moving.

  “What the hell are they going to do to him?” I asked Jay, and he squeezed my arm, hard.

  “Let’s follow them and find out.”

  I walked into a human hospital for the first time ever. I’d spent my life in the woods, fighting bear shifters and protecting my pack, and this truly was the strangest scene I’d ever witnessed.

  The fluorescent lights burnt my eyes and the stark, white walls stretched up before me like an enormous maze.

  I skidded to a halt before an indoor cage. The sign said reception desk, but it was a cage nonetheless.

  How did humans live and work in places like this?

  A woman approached us and I searched my instincts. Despite the fact I hadn’t seen a human woman in months, she did nothing for me.

  Her face was too coarse and pinched. Her aura wrong and unattractive.

  “Can I get you to fill in some forms for the man they just brought in?”

  She handed me a black clipboard and a pen. I nodded and managed to relax enough to sit on an uncomfortable plastic chair with Jay at my side.

  Taylor came running in the door, spotted us and took a seat on my right.

  The three of us against the world, as it’s always been.

  Pack mates. Alpha, Beta and Omega. Brothers, not by blood, but by a bond stronger than any other I’d shared.

  “Whoa, I’d forgotten how hot these women are.” Taylor whistled as more nurses moved about and patients staggered into the Emergency Room.

  I shrugged my shoulders and focused on the human forms. “You’re welcome to them, Taylor.”

  The pack took turns travelling to town, hitting up the bars. Finding women to bed for the night. I’d always struggled with fucking women I wasn’t connected to. Slaking my lust and keeping my passions under control so I didn’t hurt the fragile humans is not how I’m designed.

  The Alpha wolf inside me craved the constant contact of my true mate. A woman to love and protect. Someone to complete me and bare my children.

  “What’s wrong with you, Dex? It’s been months since we came to town. You must be horny as hell.”

  I was. But I’d been running miles a day to keep the demons at bay.

  “I am. But I don’t want any of those.”

  I gestured to the room as a whole and glanced up again as a young blonde woman stumbled over her feet as she stared at us.

  I rolled my eyes and kept focusing on the paperwork. “When my mate shows up, let me know.”

  Jay sighed. “We may not have mates, Dex. A mate is a wolf shifter, pack-born. You know that’s not our path.”

  I looked over at my Omega, battling to keep my anger at bay, my gut burning at his words. “What is? To die without a mate, and childless?”

  Jay’s mouth set in the grim line he always adopted when upset. “We’re still a family, Dexter.”

  “I know that.” I looked away.

  A lot of the men in our pack were happy with their situation, but I wasn’t. We’d grown up as one, huge pack, and at adulthood—twenty-one—we were ranked and chose who would share our own pack.

  I was ranked an Alpha, of course. All three of my brothers were Alphas, the same as my father.

  As an Alpha, I was able to choose a Beta and an Omega to complete my family, my pack.

  I was lucky. It was an easy choice.

  Jay and Taylor had been my best friends from childhood and it was perfectly natural when we built a house and moved in together.

  But we were missing our mates and despite how much I loved the guys, we weren’t complete. There was a massive hole missing in my heart, and my life, and even if the other men didn’t feel it as much as I did, it was still there.

  The receptionist returned to claim the clipboard full of information. We were left for what felt like hours.

  “What’s taking so long?” Taylor asked, as he restlessly shifted on his chair, stood up, and began pacing once again.

  We took turns wearing out the floor in the waiting area. There was nothing else to do.

  I leaned forward on the cha
ir and watched the white swinging doors that my father had disappeared behind. Over and over they opened and closed.

  And nothing happened.

  But eventually the doors opened and a woman walked through. One I hadn’t seen before.

  I sat up straighter, my shifter rising to the surface.

  Who was she? And why did I suddenly want to take her in my arms and kiss the life out of her?

  She was obviously a physician, dressed in blue scrubs and wearing running shoes that were well worn.

  She spoke to the nurse and headed toward us.

  I jumped to my feet. My heart was pounding like I’d run a marathon, my skin itched and vibrated like my wolf was about to spring forth.

  “Dexter Monaghan?” she asked, meeting my gaze for the first time.

  Sapphire blue eyes clashed with mine and a growl rolled through my chest.

  “Are you all right?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at my reaction.

  Jay gasped and Taylor went rigid beside me. I could feel them reacting to her in the same way my shifter was, which should have been impossible.

  We were meant to have our own mates. And she was mine.

  I turned to my pack mates. “Go, wait in the car. I’ll be out as soon as I can.”

  Jay nodded and began to back away, but Taylor set his jaw. “No. I…”

  I dropped my gaze away from my mate and stared at Jay, willing him to do my bidding.

  As the Alpha, my will was law, but I rarely exercised it. I didn’t want blind obedience. I believed that bred insolence.

  I wanted loyalty. Love. And that was earned over time.

  “Taylor. Go.”

  He turned and fled, and I turned my attention back to the woman before me.

  “Doctor…?”

  “I’m Doctor Claire Masterson. I’m the physician treating your father.”

  “Claire…” I managed to say her name, even though all I wanted to do was put her over my shoulder and throw her into the back of our truck.

  She looked at me strangely again. I obviously wasn’t behaving normally, and I didn’t want to scare her off. But how to do that?

  “I’m sorry, Doctor. Please continue.”

  She straightened up, her throat working up and down as she swallowed hard. The woman looked almost as uncomfortable as I was. Perhaps she felt this strange electric connection too?

  I’d suggest when she meets him originally saying that a cardiologist had been paged to take over his father’s case and she was just there to update him.